The Tall Stranger

[1] A filmed version starred Joel McCrea and Virginia Mayo.

[2] The story starts out in the 1860s with Ned Bannon coming across cattle rustlers who shoot him and leave him for dead.

A group of wagon trainers finding Ned Bannon badly wounded and all alone take him in and are soon approached by Mort Harper, who tells them of a great new trail that is perfectly safe.

When Bannon tries to warn them of his half-brother he is forced out of the camp with a gun to his back by Harper and his gang.

Harper and his gang try to drag the settlers into a land war, but ultimately Bannon outsmarts them.